Justice Keepers Saga - Books 13-15

Prologue-4

“Corin,” Anna panted. “Send the file.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

That mocking grin died when Telixa saw the information that was coming through on her computer. “What is this?” she demanded.

“It’s Dr. Veneray’s research,” Anna replied. “He thinks that he can adapt Jack’s antibodies to treat someone without a Nassai symbiont. But we haven’t had a chance to test it. We can help you, Telixa. We can end this war. Just call off your ships.”

“You say that,” the admiral growled. “And yet, there are still Justice Keepers on Salus Prime. They recently destroyed one of our bases, killing dozens of Ragnosian troops. You left some of your people on this world, knowing that they would start a rebellion!”

Anna looked up and narrowed her eyes. “Well, what did you expect?” she croaked. “Your people are a hostile invasion force! The Salusians have every right to defend their home! If you want the fighting to stop, all you have to do is leave their world!”

“I’m sorry, Anna,” Telixa said. “But I’ve come to realize that I can’t trust Justice Keepers.”

The screen went dark.

Corin checked his instruments and then shook his head in dismay. “She’s gone, Captain,” he said. “Killed the transmission.”

“All right,” Anna groaned. “Prepare to-”

“Just a second, Captain,” Corin said, hands flying over his SmartGlass console. He scrolled through several windows of telemetry, flinging them aside with a swipe of two deft fingers. “The enemy is retreating! All Ragnosian ships are breaking orbit and going to warp!”

Once again, the screen lit up, this time with the image of a tall man in a blue uniform who stood on a bridge that had seen better days. Half of the monitors that surrounded him were showing nothing but static.

The face that greeted her was pale with a white goatee and deep wrinkles under sunken, blue eyes. “This is Colonel Taro Tremar of the Antauran Space Fleet,” he said. “It seems we owe you a debt of gratitude. I wasn’t expecting eight Leyrian ships to come to our rescue.”

Reclining in the chair, Anna replied with an impish grin. “We’re actually with the Alosian Defense Force,” she said. “We broke away from Leyria in protest of illegal actions taken by the Leyrian government.”

“And we’re allies with Leyria,” the colonel replied. “So, technically, that makes you our enemies.” Bleakness take this guy. Was he really stupid enough to pick a fight with the people who had come to his rescue? She breathed a sigh of relief when he added, “But I won’t tell if you don’t.”

“We’re just being neighbourly, sir,” Anna said. “The people of Alios want to be friends with Antaur and her colonies.”

A smile put crinkles around the colonel’s eyes. “The gesture is appreciated, Captain Lenai,” he said. “But it might be wise for you to leave the system.”

Anna raised an eyebrow.

“After we assist you with any repairs, of course.”

The narrow, rectangular window in Mother Danla’s office gave Larani a view of rolling green hills outside the church. The glass had a slight blue tint, making everything seem cold even though it was a pleasant day in autumn.

Tall and lean with dark skin and long, black hair pulled back in a clip, Larani stood with one hand on the window-frame. Her angular face was pinched into an expression of disapproval. She had been wearing that expression a lot lately. It came with the anxiety she felt every time she sent her people into the field, a daily occurrence now.

“They’re asking for you,” Danla said.

Larani turned around.

The priestess who ran this church was a frumpy woman in a simple, gray dress and blue shawl. Golden hair framed a pale face with a cleft chin, and her green eyes were a touch too big.

Here in Shalovka, the people worshiped Crix, God of Luck and Laughter. He was of the same pantheon as Haloren goddess Audria. One of the lesser gods, or so Larani had been told.

While the stories around Crix painted him as an ostentatious fellow, his devotees were anything but. Danla’s office was a drab room with only a single bookshelf and a plain, wooden desk.

“We should go then,” Larani said.

She followed the other woman through a narrow hallway that led to the back of the church. There, she found a stairwell that took her to the basement. Some of her rebels had gathered in the storage room.

A n***d bulb in the ceiling illuminated four stone walls with wooden shelves that supported casks of wine. A small cupboard contained pens, paper and other implements that Danla and her scribes used for correspondence. She saw a broom, a mop and several wooden chairs in the corner.

One of the latter had been moved to the centre of the room. The man who sat in it – a Ragnosian commander, by his uniform – was bald with an olive complexion. He was slumped over, head lolling, unconscious.

The air down here was musty and a bit too cool for her liking. Her people had been using the church basement as a base of operations for two weeks, sleeping on the floor or the old, broken sofa in the other room. Danla had been kind enough to take them in and hide them from the Ragnosian patrols that had moved into Shalovka.

Melissa stood tall with hands clasped behind her back, watching the prisoner with a stern expression. Behind her, Novol leaned against the stone wall.

“Have you gotten anything out of him?” Larani asked.

Melissa spared her a glance and then directed a frown at the sleeping man. “He isn’t willing to talk,” she said. “But we downloaded the data from his pocket computer and ran a decryption algorithm.”

“Did it work?”

“It did,” Melissa said. “And we have a problem.”

Avrin Bryse strode out of a shadowy corner with his multi-tool resting in the palm of his hand. A hologram wavered into existence, depicting text in Vanasku. With a few quick gestures, he had his multi-tool translate the document. Larani skimmed through it, her trepidation growing with every word. “Are you sure this is accurate?”

“We have no reason to doubt it,” Bryse replied. “I don’t think they realize we can hack their software. Anna’s little stunt was brilliant.”

He was referring to the maneuver where Anna, posing as a Haloren butler, seduced General Mikken Heldoran and went through his pocket computer. Larani had to admit that it was a clever plan. The good general was obviously reluctant to divulge the details of his little indiscretion. No one had realized that he had been the source of the leak. Or that Leyrian multi-tools could break Ragnosian encryption.

wasHeaving out a breath, Larani hung her head as she strode into the room. “Then we do have a problem,” she said. “In two weeks, the Ragnosians are going to attack Leyria.”

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